I'm missing something here... SYD and MEL airports are reportedly very excited, but they already have CAT II/III.
Agreed, not on their East-West runways, but the normal runway mode in MEL for low vis is RWY 16 for arrivals and RWY 27 for departures, so SA CAT I on RWY 27 is hardly going to help. As for SYD, low vis conditions won't conceivably introduce RWY 07/25 for arrivals in addition to the parallels. So what are they excited about, exactly?
So, the only advantage of the news that I can see is for other CAT I ILS's in the country. But which of them have transmissometers? If there is no RVR available, can you use SA CAT I? Or is installing transmissometers part of the "additional infrastructure" required?
As for a QF advantage, they've spent millions on gear they haven't been allowed to use for over a decade because of no CASA approval. Doesn't sound like a regulator in the pocket to me. More like years of tireless work and dollars devoted to trying to budge a virtually immovable object. The equipment is capable of CAT IIIa, and after 14 years we get a reduction of 50 feet and 100 RVR at the two airports that don't need it? As one poster suggested, hopefully just a first step in something bigger.